Chief Keef gets OK to go to rehab in California

Chicago rapper Chief Keef got permission from a Cook County judge Friday to enter a private drug treatment facility out of state after the rapper tested positive for marijuana, officials said.

Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, was in court again at the Skokie courthouse on Friday to ask Judge Earl Hoffenberg for permission to enter the drug treatment facility in California, said officials. Cozart will be going to one of the Promises Treatment Centers a high-cost, for-profit treatment program that has housed celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. Promises has facilities in Malibu and West Los Angeles and has been the target of high-profile lawsuits and criticisms of its methods.

Cozart, 19, was also in court Wednesday after he tested positive for drugs on two occasions, the Cook County sheriff's department said. They said he had been ordered to undergo random drug testing after pleading guilty to a speeding ticket he received over the summer.

Hoffenberg on Wednesday had ordered Cozart to undergo 90 days of drug treatment at the Haymarket Center, a residential treatment center on the West Side. But Cook County sheriff's officials delayed sending him there pending a hearing to clarify with the judge whether he intended that Cozart be housed in a facility that is not guarded, officials said.

On Friday Hoffenberg told Cozart that he could go to the California treatment facility, which Cozart will have to pay for.

Cozart will spend his first 30 days in the facility in a "secure area" and after that he will be able to work, depending on his 30-day progress report, officials said.

They said Cozart's next court date is Dec. 12 at the Skokie courthouse and at that time the judge will review his progress in rehab.

Cozart was originally ordered to under go random drug testing last summer after he pleaded guilty to driving 110 mph behind the wheel of a BMW on the Edens Expressway at Winnetka Road in the early morning hours of May 27.

This is the second time Cozart has failed drug tests since entering the plea. On Oct. 15, he was sentenced to 20 days in Cook County Jail. He was released 10 days earlier than his full sentence after receiving good time credit, which cut his sentence in half, said officials.